Inevitable, really…

Rolex to enter NFT Market

Having joined the pre-owned market last year, Rolex have revealed they will soon be making a move into non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, to cater for the digital asset collector.

“Rolex superlative technical innovation in partnership with FTX will bring ERC-721 compliant NFTs to brand's iconic designs” - FT Weekend (subscription required)

According to credible sources Rolex have noted the opportunity in “the rising popularity of social media and watch appreciation with online digital-natives” but have been challenged due to each physical timepiece taking them one year to make.

The article, aptly exclusive to the Financial Times, notes that while lauded for their brand recognition and advertising acumen, supply has been a problem since social media became a profession, rather than a pastime.

The resulting gap will be filled with NFTs, which can be produced in far less time.

“Deploying Rolex's unique Digital Alloys and proprietary Digital Foundry, a Submariner NFT can be produced in as little as 2 weeks. Additionally, signature Rolex innovations in bezel colour and case size can be brought to market not in 2 to 5 years, but in 2 to 5 weeks” declared Hans Dorfman-Wils, CEO of the new Digital Assets Division, Rolex DAD, created in partnership with leading digital exchange, FTX.

“For collectors and the community, it offers a unique combination of accessibility with the exclusivity and superlative manufacturing only Rolex can provide” he enthused.

Goldman Sach's industry analyst Anthony Wright-Herbert explained that the value proposition for luxury watches has skewed towards online display, rather than actual timekeeping - or even wearing. The intrinsic worth is no longer in the physical item, he essays, but in the virtual display. Rolex's move, he concludes, is simply their latest step in a remarkable journey of business acumen and marketing genius that is unparalleled among luxury marques.

NFTs (continues A Wright-Herbert) are the ideal way for savvy digital natives to display their brand allegiance, status and unique personality, without having to endure the tedious necessity of buying a watch in an old-fashioned “shop”, only to photograph it once next to their German car before trading it.

It cuts out the object-based fetishism, removes the servicing requirement, negates the risk of mugging, and delivers directly the digital product, suitable for Instagram or social media channels, he told subscribers to his newsletter for serious collectors, Time to Invest.

Dorfman-Wils concluded by teasing in a 10-second TikTok clip that the first NFT will be based on one of the company's signature designs, combined with their Temps Digitale Manufacture (Digital Time Manufacture).

The FT article concludes by suggesting 2023 will be “The year of Rolex Perpetual TDM”.